This Ferdy did promptly.
He suddenly gave up running away from college, applied himself to cultivating the acquaintance of his fellow-students, spent his money lavishly in entertainments, and for a time it appeared that he might wrest the prize from Norman's grasp.
College boys, however, are a curious folk.

The mind of youth is virtuous.

It is later on in life that it becomes sordid.

Ferdy wrote his father that he had the prize, and that Norman, his only rival, had given up the fight.

Mrs.Wickersham openly boasted of her son's success and of her motive, and sent him money lavishly.